


I'll Teach You!

by natblue_nema



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Adam is NOT present at all, Gen, Langa is whipped for Reki, Reki teaching Shadow how to crochet, but still adding, everyone is soft, focus are the familiar/developing relationships, rest of the cast realising Reki's competence, the romantic relationship tags are ambigious, up to your own inpterpretation but heavily implied
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29877504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natblue_nema/pseuds/natblue_nema
Summary: Reki has many hidden talents... like crocheting! Enter Shadow who desperately needs to learn this particular skill in only three days. A new teacher and pupil is born!orReki takes on the mission to teach Shadow crocheting in preparation for the birthday present the florist wants to gift his lady manager. The rest of the cast realises that this isn't the only secret skill the redheaded skater is surprisingly adept at.“Well, it makes sense. Reki’s academic performance is ranked third in the whole school after all. And he’s also good at sports."“Being athletic doesn’t even have anything to do with this. And why are you the one bragging about it, anyway?” Miya questioned annoyed.“Because he’s my best friend,” Langa said without shame. Reki hid his face in his hands and groaned. Miya stuck out his tongue in disgust.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki, Higa Hiromi | Shadow & Kyan Reki, Kyan Reki & Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 12
Kudos: 167





	I'll Teach You!

“Hey, Shadow! I challenge you to a beef!” Reki yelled after having just lost one to a small and cat-eared Miya. “Shadow!”

“Heck no!”

Already expecting that exact response Reki resorted to his usual strategy and looped his arms around the older man’s and started clinging like a monkey. Shadow’s bicep barely strained as he started walking away with the scrawny boy hanging off him like a mis-matched Christmas decoration.

Miya watched the scene unfold with small grin hidden under his too large hood, and then sneaked a glance at Langa who had joined him as well sporting a soft smile, eyes crinkling at the sight.

“You weak man,” Miya said with amused distaste.

“I know,” Langa replied, eyes still fondly hooked on his redheaded partner who was now climbing Shadow like a tree. He picked up Reki’s skateboard that his friend had dumped in front of him after the previous beef and then forgotten in his haste of catching up with Shadow, and started towards the two of them, his own board secured under his other arm. “Shadow,” he said and Shadow huffed in a noncommittal way, “You usually race against Reki when he challenges you, though, so why not now?”

“Yeah, did you finally decide to stop humouring him?” Miya piped up.

“That’s not it!”

Reki perked up. “So you will race me then?” he said excitedly.

Shadow once again tried to push him off. “No. I’m busy.”

“Agh!” Reki made an unflattering sound as he finally lost contact with Shadow’s arm. Langa helped him up to his feet. “Thanks, man.” Langa brushed off some more dust from Reki’s shoulders and hummed in response. “But busy with what exactly? Is it something I can help with? Will you race me when you’re done? When will you be done? Can I –“ Reki’s constant flow of questions was only interrupted by Langa who put a hand over his mouth, muffling him.

“Reki, you’re being a little rude, don’t you think? Despite Shadow’s personality and looks he is still an adult and even has a job. I’m sure he has many responsibilities.”

“What do you mean despite my personality and looks, Snow!”

“…nothing much.”

“That’s an obvious lie!”

At Langa’s words Reki had deflated some, and his bangs started to droop as they usually did when he got depressed, but almost just as quickly they bounced up in their usual spikes. “So it’s something to do with your job then, Shadow! Is it-” Reki gasped in realisation and his eyes widened some. “Oh, are you planning something for your manager crush, is that it?”

“Silence!” Shadow boomed dangerously, and some inquiring heads turned their way when hearing his voice echo through the skating ground, only to immediately swivel around again to avoid being sighted by one furious punk skater.

“I’m right then!” Reki fist-pumped the air and Miya narrowly avoided losing an eye from his elbow getting a tad too close.

“Watch it, slime!”

“Hush, so Shadow, what’s the big deal? Is it her birthday or something? You picking out a present? Baking her a cake?”

Apparently having succumbed to his destiny of being chained to the questions of a noisy and loud teenager Shadow could only nod in exasperation. His face was vaguely pink, which at least made Langa believe that the older man was bright red underneath his white make-up clad face. “It’s her birthday,” Shadow confirmed in defeat.

“You’re surprisingly good at reading people, slime,” Miya said, somewhat impressed. “I wouldn’t have guessed.”

Reki scratched behind his ear and his trademark bandana shifted some. “It seemed pretty obvious to me? The only reason someone as passionate as Shadow wouldn’t want to race me would be because of something to do with his job.” Langa absentmindedly fixed the lopsided bandana into its right place and earned a pat on the hand from Reki as thanks. Miya watched their display of affection in disgust. “We already know that the only thing at his job he values more than skating is his lady crush there.”

“That’s not true!” Shadow complained.

“But you obviously don’t care that much about the reputation of the shop since you use the company car after your work hours. But again, I guess a florist’s wouldn’t really be that well-known in these circles, so you driving the car to and from S isn’t maybe that huge of a deal, considering…” Reki trailed off lost in thought, not noticing how the others stared at him in stunned disbelief. Only when Langa softly brushed Reki’s hand with his own, did the redhead wake up from the silent pondering he had momentarily sunk into. “Well, in any case,” he said lightly, “Since it’s job related but not directly related to your actual duties the logical conclusion would be that it had to do with the only person you’ve shown any obvious interest in.”

“But how did you know it was her– “

“Her birthday, right? Anyone could have figured with just a bit of research.”

“Cherry!” Reki exclaimed. Langa nodded slightly in greeting and Shadow looked put out about more people finding out about his love life. Miya didn’t particularly care, but did eye Carla, the arguably coolest board among all skaters at S. Not that he would ever admit that.

“You’ve been quite tense these past nights,” Cherry pointed out to Shadow, who scowled. “With S being a place for letting go of your mundane anxieties I can only assume this pent-up stress was due to some even bigger external factor, this of course being your infamous love for the manager-“

“Infamous?” Shadow cried distressed.

“-at your florist’s shop. After some quick searches with the help of Carla, of course-“

“Cool,” Miya mouthed silently. Langa snorted and then pretended to sneeze when the child’s piercing gaze descended upon him.

“-and from then it was all very simple since your very homepage states that the shop would be closed due to ‘personal reasons’. These reason can be further categorized into being due to sudden bankruptcy, illness, death, or birthday celebrations-“

“Cherry is surprisingly pessimistic,” Reki noted. _It really isn’t that surprising,_ everyone else thought. _Only you would think that!_

“-and since you, Shadow, these last nights at S, despite being _stressed_ , wasn’t particularly _distressed_ , I can conclude with simple reasoning that only your lady friend’s upcoming birthday is reasonable cause for your anxiety. Say, Reki, I’m actually quite impressed that you also realised this so quickly.”

Reki’s ears was dusted pink at the compliment. “Oh, thank you?”

“Is nobody going to ask the obvious question why Cherry here is googling Shadow in his free time?”

“Joe.” Cherry stated the newcomer’s name with the same feeling people said _ew_ after stepping in dog poop.

“Yo.” Joe made a peace-sign. “Get it? Because I’m Joe.”

“Lame, old man,” Miya said in a bored voice. Joe’s smile faltered some as he tried to shoulder through the pain.

“It’s ok,” he said defensively as Shadow nodded his head sympathetically in his direction. “I’m not hurt at all.” Shadow having gone through the same process multiple times attempted to catch Joe’s gaze and connect the two of them by the mutual lack of respect the cat-child has shown them, to bond their hearts in a sense of comradery. Joe pointedly fixed his gaze towards the dark sky. “But I agree with Kaoru,” he said, seemingly to no one at all. It was hard to make sure with him not looking at anyone. “Reki, I always thought you were quick-witted.”

Reki looked embarrassed again. “He’s really smart,” Langa casually bragged.

The adults looked mildly surprised at this statement, Joe so much that he momentarily forgot the threat that was Shadow’s attempts at bonding and ripped his gaze away from the starry sky. And then there was Miya who promptly denied it with his whole being. “No way! There’s no way that dumb-as-rock slime would be smart!”

“Rock or slime, make up your mind, catboy!” Reki cried. “But yeah, Langa, that’s too much.”

“I don’t think so,” Langa said. “You always get better grades than me on tests.”

“Standardized tests are no way to prove a person’s actual intelligence!”

“You’re at the top of our class,” Langa continued.

“Educational competitiveness only puts pressure on students for no good reason!”

“The only times you get detention is when you do it intentionally so I don’t have to go alone!”

“That’s just me being a good friend, that’s not even a proper argument!”

They argued back and forth, and the rest of the skaters watched them intently, easily sucked into the two teenager’s familiar rhythm. It was like a game of ping-pong, like a beef between destined rivals where neither side wanted to yield. _Maybe_ , their audience thought, _even more intense in some moments._

Cherry sighed through his nose, and from an outsides perspective he would seem bored, or annoyed at the boys’ bickering. Nobody spied the soft smile he wore under his mask. _This is quite reminiscent._

At that moment Joe made himself known again, as he got close – a little too close, Cherry thought suddenly flustered – to his ear and echoed Cherry’s own thoughts. “Those two really are a lot like us, huh.”

Cherry didn’t answer, but instead focused on calming his fluctuating heartbeat before Carla would announce his weakness to the world – bless her artifical heart but his heartrate really wasn’t anyone’s business but his own. _Ah, damn,_ he thought as Joe pulled back from his face with his usual stupid effortless grin. _I have known this feeling for a while, though. How annoying._

“Agh, enough!” Reki finally yelled, interrupting Cherry’s internal – albeit short – panic. “Fine, I guess I’m smart, you win! You win, you blue-haired bastard. You’re so stubborn it drives me crazy!”

Langa only smiled, his face now schooled back into its usual cool features. “You’re also stubborn. I was just right this time.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Reki ruffled his hair some, and then laughed. “All this just because Shadow wants to buy a gift for his crush’s birthday.”

“Oh, to be young,” Joe sighed as he used Cherry’s shoulder as a shelf, ignoring the other skater’s strained “Get off me, oaf!”. “But if anything, this just proves that you’ve got some real brains about you, kid.” He winked at Reki good-humouredly. “Good for you.”

“Ah, maybe.” Reki still sounded doubtful. “Though, I found about Shadow’s manager’s birthday via his calendar-“

“What!” Cherry looked stumped, especially after having given his long and detailed explanation, and also given away his apparent tendencies of keeping tabs at the skaters at S. Even Joe looked a little dumbfounded.

“I didn’t do it on purpose or anything!” Reki quickly explained when Shadow started to whisper accusingly, too shocked to even properly form words to express his indignance. “It just lay open on his dashboard last time he gave me and Langa a ride home. Literacy is a prison, you know. I know how to read, so I can’t just _not_ read something if it’s right in front of me.”

“But why didn’t Langa know then?”

Miya snorted and pointed at the paper-like character gently rocking back and forth that Langa had turned into after hearing Reki’s confession. “Does this look like the kind of guy that even remembers what he had for lunch?”

 _No,_ everyone thought. _Definitely not._

“Well, it makes sense.” Langa reverted back to himself after the ghost he had been become due to the shock of it all. He grinned slightly. “Reki’s academic performance is ranked third in the whole school after all. And he’s good at sports.”

“Being athletic doesn’t even have anything to do with this. And why are you the one bragging about it, anyway?” Miya questioned annoyed.

“Because he’s my best friend,” Langa said without shame. Reki hid his face in his hands and groaned. Miya stuck out his tongue in disgust.

“Oh, to be young,” Joe said again and poked Cherry in the ribs. “Don’t you agree? High school, what a time that was.” Cherry only huffed, and Shadow mumbled something about still only being 24.

“So what are you getting her, Shadow?” Reki asked, cheeks still pinkish in tone.

Shadow squirmed when everyone’s’ attention was redirected towards him. “Uh- I was thinking- Maybe you know-”

“Speak up!” Cherry barked, quickly losing his patience. Joe tried elbowing him again to which the masked skater easily dodged. “Clearly!”

“Ah, um, she likes insects!”

“Surprising but reasonable! Continue!”

“And hand-made stuff is cuter and more romantic!”

“Correct!”

And we both like handling flower and plants of different kinds!”

“I’m sure!”

“And she owns a lot of these small hand-knitted table-cloths and cardigans that are really cute!”

“Get to the point!”

“Yes!” Shadow cried. Langa thought like he was one more shout from Cherry to salute the other man. “So I was thinking of knitting her a…” Shadow faltered some when he spotted Miya’s gleeful eyes. “Ah, knitting her-“ He gestured vaguely with his hands, making small circular motions, and then proceeded to imitate something flying. “A bee? That’s cute, right?”

Miya had to step off his board, that was how violently he was laughing. “What are you, an old lady?”

“The idea of me knitting can’t possibly be that funny, what do you even know about these kinds of things you- You baby-furry!” It was an understatement to describe Shadow as being heavily embarrassed by the whole ordeal, to which Miya’s jabs at his hand-crafting skills didn’t help in the slightest. “You’re like ten-year-old in maturity levels! On good days!”

“I think it’s cute,” Langa said in his usual honest and straight-to-the-point style. “What do you think, Reki?”

Reki nodded his head vigorously in agreement. “It’s super thoughtful! Very you, Shadow!”

“I didn’t know you could knit,” Cherry commented, “Though, it’s not that much of a surprise considering that you have shown yourself to be unpredictably sensitive in many areas. For how long have you been doing it?”

Shadow abandoned his tirade against the still laughing Miya, and mumbled something in response to Cherry’s question. Cherry frowned.

“What?”

“Maybe five days?” Shadow repeated a little louder, forming his answer like a question. “Or something?”

Cherry stared him down and a single droplet of sweat started running down Shadow’s temple drawing a line in his perfectly white foundation. “And when is her birthday?”

“Saturday?”

Cherry scowled and pinched his nose bridge like he had just caught a particularly bad migraine. “So you, a total beginner, is going to, _by hand, from scratch,_ make her a knitted bee-“

Miya giggled. Cherry ignored him.

“-and in the span of three days _learn_ how to actually knit _?_ ”

“Ye-“

“Impossible, come up with something else.”

“Chocolate’s still popular, you know,” Joe decided to comment, but was immediately shot down by Cherry.

“Cliché. Chocolate’s is the ultimate way for him to show that he has no imagination and doesn’t know her properly to be aware of her personal interests. It’s what you buy to you crush in high school, no, middle school and even then, it’s the most basic of gestures.”

“You didn’t seem to mind getting all that chocolate in high school, though, Kaoru,” Joe argued back. “Remember, your locker was always full because everyone, even the dudes, was buying you it.”

Cherry flushed red and tried taking a swing at Joe’s neck. “You’re also aware of that I never ate any of those!” he cried. “It was stupid of our classmates to waste their money on something superficial like chocolate!”

“It was a sweet gesture!”

“Shallow!”

“Everyone thought you were pretty, just take the compliment!”

“What?”

“Huh?”

“Can I say something?” Reki asked.

“Please,” Langa muttered. “I can really feel some kind of tension here and I don’t want them to start brawling.”

“That’s definitely not going to happen,” Reki assured his dense friend. “But what I was going to say; Shadow, you don’t have to knit.”

Shadow started to argue but was quickly silenced when Reki held up his hand.

“Just listen, knitting is just one way for you to accomplish you main-goal here. There are way simpler techniques even a beginner can learn well if you put in some effort. Have you thought about crocheting instead of knitting? That’s a lot easier if you’re new to it, and is also easy considering that you’ll be making something that’s round.”

“I… had not thought about that.”

“I could teach you then!” Reki suggested. “If you want to.”

“Will I really be able to do it?”

Reki enthusiastically gave him a thumbs up. “I guarantee you success, 100 percent!”

Truth be told, Shadow hadn’t really planned far enough ahead, and probably would never have thought of the complications that Cherry had brought up, or seen the apparent solution that the redheaded teen now suggested. Shadow being who he was would normally refuse help due to his worthless pride. He admitted to himself that that probably would have resulted in him gifting his precious manager a blob of yarn. _Frankly_ , Shadow thought to himself. _This pride of mine is nothing compared to my love for her._

“Please, teach me!”

Miya had apparently waited for this conflict to reach its end. “Now that that’s _finally_ done. Old man, drive me home.” He aimed a kick at Shadow’s shin who grunted as he repeated the words ‘old man’.

“Reki, we should head back as well.” Langa tugged at Reki’s sleeve and successfully managed to start dragging Reki towards their scooter. 

“Will you kids be okay?” Joe asked them, to which Reki smiled.

“No problems!” he said to Joe, and then added in a louder voice in the direction of Shadow and Miya, “Hey, Shadow! I’ll text you my address later, so come to my house tomorrow!”

“How do you have my number?” Shadow yelled back.

“I don’t!” Reki beamed and pointed at Miya. “Miya will text it to me tonight!”

“I don’t want this brat knowing my number!”

“And I don’t want an old man’s number in my phone, so we’re even,” Miya retorted.

“Do you want to be dumped alongside the road or something?”

Grinning, the middle-schooler said: “Remember that I’m the only one standing between you and your eternal love, old man.”

“He’ll text it to me!” Reki yelled one last time before Langa turned him around and forced his ruffled hair into a helmet, and before Miya made Shadow start grovelling on his knees for his own amusement. The cat-child really was a tiny-sized demon sometimes. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Shadow!”

“Well.” Joe said as the sound of the scooter faded away, and the two other’s bickering could no longer be heard. He stretched his arms behind his head, and Cherry pointedly tried and failed to note how his chest muscles rippled in a very attractive way. _What kind of person walks around bear-breasted in public? Honestly, this man..._ “We better get going as well. Not much here to do now.”

“Seems like it.”

Joe fixed him with a curious look. “We doing the usual?” he asked. “My place? I can fix up some drinks.”

Instead of answering, Cherry picked up his board. “Carla, reschedule all of tomorrow morning’s appointments.”

 _Oh, so we are going to get wasted tonight,_ Joe thought amusedly as Carla confirmed the command. _That’s rare for him._

“Let’s go.”

Joe grinned. “Whatever you say.”

**Author's Note:**

> SK8 really became my comfort fic within the first episode, but as opposed to my usual habit of wanting to hurt my comfort characters in every way possible, this time I want to wrap them up in soft blankets and make sure they eat and hydrate properly.
> 
> Follow me on Twitter: [@natblue_nema](https://twitter.com/natblue_nema)


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